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Of a Woman in Ministry, Of an Author

New Glasses

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Dreaming of Tomorrow, the third book in my Tomorrow series, opens with the scene of Logan De Witt in the doctor’s office trying out a new pair of glasses for the first time.

“Your new spectacles will help you with reading and also with seeing objects in the distance,” the doctor told him.

Reverend Logan De Witt held out 28 years before he met with changing eyesight. These new glasses promised to enhance his life in much-needed ways, but his new and refined depth perception would take some getting used to.

I included a scene like this at the opening of the book to set us up for Logan’s growth as a leader. He gets married in Dreaming of Tomorrow, so he has excitement as well as some reservations about his future. He wants his vision to serve him well down through the years as he gets established as a spiritual leader and begins a marriage.

I’ve been in Logan’s situation many times, going to the doctor for a new pair of glasses. Logan’s appointments were held in the clinic of the rural, small-town doctor back in the 1910’s, whereas mine took place in the clinic of an optometrist, surrounded by specialized equipment in the 1980’s and 90’s.

Every twelve to eighteen months my eyes would worsen with near-sightedness until my mother would take me to the eye doctor again for another change in my prescription. The lenses got thicker and thicker, making me look nerdier and nerdier. The last thing a grade-school girl wanted, especially in the 80’s when lenses were large, taking up most of the space on my face, was to appear before the world as a geeky, intellectual type who liked books.

Ah, but then my freshman year of high school arrived, allowing me to get contacts. What a relief! The weight of heavy lenses was gone, along with the humiliation of looking like the bookworm, the lover or reading, studying, and writing that I really was.

I remember the fear that accompanied each trip to the eye doctor. When would my eyes stop getting worse? Maybe they wouldn’t. Was it possible that my eyes would continue to decline until I went blind? I couldn’t stand that thought. Beauty in the world round me was taken in through my eyes. How would I see light and color? And what about reading? New ideas that fueled my imagination came from words on the page, and only from my ability to see them in the first place.

In those years while I was learning to get along with glasses, the classic TV show, Newhart, aired. It came on every Monday night at 8:30. Our family watched it devotedly. My dad was on the church consistory, which met once a month on Monday nights. This created a serious conflict of interest. On those nights when Dad had to miss a show, we’d push a tape into the VCR player (those were the days) and record the episode so that he could watch it later.

Newhart stood out to me because the main character, Dick Loudon, inn keeper and author of how-to books, wore glasses. They were little half-glasses he used for reading, coming in handy for deciphering small print, and quite convenient for sending looks of disbelief or skepticism over the top edges.

Dick Loudon evoked strong mixed feelings for me. I identified with his cardigan-wearing, introverted author persona while also carrying a secret dread of ending up like him. As a grade-schooler, I thought it would be grand to live in a historic area like New England and have something to write about, but I couldn’t imagine the humiliation of having to wear reading glasses. Who in the world would want to try and look like a nerdy, writer-reader type?

In April I visited my eye doctor here in Pella. Different one from my childhood, but the same modern kind of office with similar specialized equipment.

“You made it quite a way into your forties before your eyes started to change,” he said to me. “But now we need to think about different options for contacts.”

Those words took me back in time until I was a sixth grader again, hearing the eye doctor suggest yet another move to stronger lenses. But things weren’t going to be as simple this time as they were forty years ago. My Pella eye doctor adjusted the strength of my contacts (thankfully I can still wear them) but the change did nothing for the clarity of my up-close, fine-print reading.

Oh, dear. I knew what was coming. His assistant sent me home with the suggestion to invest in a pair of—you guessed it—Dick Loudon-looking nerdy, reader-writer-type reading glasses.

I went to Wal-Mart and found the most chic pair I possibly could, but I fear that they aren’t chic enough to rescue me from the sorry facts.

I took this picture of myself last week, seated in front of my shelves of books in the place where I do my writing. Quite honestly, it gave me a good laugh. The very thing I lived in childish dread of has happened. I must now wear the reading glasses to see fine print in the books I study to write messages and to do research for fiction projects.

As the doctor said, I held out a pretty long time, but now a change has come, and it’s come during a time in my life when the themes from both fictional characters, Logan De Witt and Dick Loudon have surfaced in my life.

Like Logan, I long for my vision to serve me well as I continue to grow as a leader. And as far as the themes from how-to author Dick Loudon goes, I’ve faced one of my worst fears and found reasons to laugh in the process, something he helped us do during all those years on the air.

Going back and watching those shows as an author, I’ve also discovered that I can relate to the challenges and concerns he had as a writer. The reading glasses have become a piece of this season of life, aiding me in my pastoral chaplain role, assisting my studying and writing, and keeping me in touch with the humorous side of things.

Of a Dutch Girl

Recounting the Story

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It’s Tulip Time in Pella, the yearly tradition of celebrating our Dutch heritage that’s been kept since the 1930’s. Watching the parades and seeing the costumes inspires me to think about our local history. I appreciate what Eugene Heideman has to say in his book about Hendrik P. Scholte:

“The city of Pella annually celebrates his (Schotle’s) decision to separate from the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk in 1834 and to lead his followers to found their city in Iowa in 1847. The story of their journey and heroic struggle to found Pella to be a “city of refuge” and to build their church with its motto up front, ‘In God is our Hope and Refuge,’ is recounted to the children and tourists each year at its May Tulip Time festival.” 1

The story is recounted, told over and over again to the children and to the tourists.

Participating in this retelling as I read the scripts to announce each entry in the parade makes me think of my own family’s story. An assignment I was given as part of my chaplaincy training was to share my family tree with the rest of the class, going back to the third and fourth generation.

Quite by coincidence, photos of some of my ancestors drifted my direction from distant relatives recently, allowing me to put the final pieces in place. The narrative of my Van Zante family is both fascinating and heartbreaking. Inspiring and heroic. Like any of the Dutch immigrants to the Iowa prairies, they faced struggles. Their piety and reverent Christian faith shines as the lasting legacy that has shaped me and made me who I am as a Dutch girl, a leader, a wife and a mother.

I’ve been handed many generations’ worth of rich heritage that I can share with my own children, adding to the recounted story of so many who came here to the American Midwest to find “freedom to worship God according to His word.” 2

I’m proud of them, and I’m honored to descend from people who knew how to trust God even when it meant leaving everything they knew and loved behind in order to venture into a fearsome, irreversible unknown.

Dielis Van Zante Sr. and his wife Pietertje emigrated to America in 1854 with their four-year-old son, also named Dielis, and a small daughter who died while they were still at sea, on their way to America from Holland. Traveling with Dielis Sr. was his brother Gerrit, Gerrit’s wife, and their children. Dielis Sr. and Pietertje settled on farmland south of Pella and went on to have more children.

Dielis Jr. grew up and married. then he settled on a farm in the Leighton area. He and his wife had seven children, one of which was my great-grandfather Henry Van Zante. In August of 1888, Dielis Jr. died an untimely death at the age of 38. If the reason was sickness or a farming accident, I haven’t been able to discover. All I know is that this sudden death must have been devastating to his wife and children.

Two of Dielis Jr.’s brothers were in business together as owners of a hardware store in Pella. They also owned land in the Eddyville area, so when the sons Dielis Jr. left behind were old enough, they were provided with farm ground.

One of these farms went to my great-grandfather Henry. He married Adrianna Grandia in March of 1910, and then moved to Eddyville to start farming. Henry and Anna had ten children. One of them was my grandfather, Elmer Van Zante. He married Elizabeth Van Heukelom, and then settled on that same farm. My dad, along with his brother and sister, were raised there.

In 2011, my Van Zante family received a Century Farm Award from the State of Iowa for retaining the same farm ground within the family for 100 years.

Ever since 1998, when I got married, Pella is where I live with my husband Tom De Bruin, and our sons Mark and John. They are both in college right now, but I find meaning in remembering, in finding more pieces to the story, and in recounting it to the children and to the visitors. Not necessarily because it’s entertaining, but because it’s real.

It’s ours as a family, and ours as a community. The story of seeking freedom to worship and of overcoming the struggles to claim land and make it produce has made us who we are. It’s our heritage, it’s our legacy, and it’s definitely worth celebrating.

Happy Tulip Time!

If my readers live close enough to take in a parade (or two), then I hope you make the trip to Pella. Notice the costumes. Listen to the history. Cherish the story.

Both quotes are taken from the book, Hendrik P. Scholte, His Legacy in the Netherlands and in America, by Eugene P. Heideman, published by Van Raalte Press, Holland, Michigan, 2015, pages xxviii and xxix in the introduction.

(Scenery photos taken by Michelle De Bruin in Pella, 2023. The photo of Michelle and her two sons, former members of the Marching Dutch, was taken in Scholte Gardens, Pella, in 2019).

Devotionals

The Searching Faith of Thomas

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“Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:27

The apostle Thomas has been nicknamed Doubting Thomas, and for the good reason that Jesus uses the word “doubting” when addressing him. Even though Thomas went though a period of doubt and skepticism, he didn’t get stuck in it, continuing to doubt as though that sort of attitude reflected a hard, closed heart.

Thomas’ heart was actually very open, but it had been broken, and needed time to heal. Jesus knows exactly how to bring him around and catch him up to speed with the rest of the disciples. He had a very important mission for them all, and Thomas must be ready to do his part.

The first time Jesus appears to the disciples, when Thomas was absent, was a sort of commissioning. He shows them his scars, giving them first-hand witness of his body returning to life. He says, “As the Father sent Me, so I send you,” giving them a call to do the work he did. Then he says, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” giving them the power to bring God’s kingdom and his reign to earth. They are authorized to deal with sin and extend forgiveness on behalf of the heavenly father.

When Thomas was with them a week later, Jesus comes again. He shows Thomas his hands and side, the same as he’d done with the other disciples. But for Thomas, he goes a step farther and invites him to do the very thing that would solidify his faith. Touching Jesus took full hold on his heart, and he was convinced of who Jesus was, and the work he’d done as God’s Son.

Thomas isn’t left out of the commission. He has the same opportunity for a first-hand witness as the others. Jesus speaks peace to them as he’d done on his previous visit, this time including Thomas.

Where was Thomas during that first meeting of the disciples? Was he at a family gathering, or was he heartsick? Was he appalled at the crucifixion and discouraged by the reality that something so heinous could happen to a man his friend Peter had declared to be the Christ?

Thomas had put so much faith in Jesus, but maybe that faith had been misplaced. We can see how doubts get started, can’t we? They spin out of one hope, however small, that didn’t get realized.

James talks about doubts. He actually begins in the place of wisdom, saying, “If anyone lack wisdom, that person should ask God who gives to all liberally without finding fault. Let them ask in faith, with no doubting, for the person who doubts is like a wave of the sea tossed about by the wind. The person is double-minded and therefore unstable.”

Thomas had hoped in Jesus. Along with the other disciples, he’d expected a ruler, someone to set them free politically from the oppressive Romans. Not someone who’d allow himself killed by them . None of those hopes (i.e. dreams) came true. And now Thomas is feeling let down and misled, maybe even deceived and foolish for having been so gullible.

His situation is similar to Peter’s of requiring a reinstating from Jesus. Starting here in the last half of chapter 20 to the end of the book, John tells the story of two disciples being restored to faith from their encounters with Jesus.

These two men needed that extra touch from the Lord for the health of their own souls, and to meet the mission that waited for them. They’d seen the Lord, watched him work miracles, and heard his teaching in the parables. So much more defined Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, than the disciples’ self-focused dreams. He was the Son of God who’d risen from the dead.

This moment when Jesus appears to Thomas held both an ending and a beginning for the disciple. The path Thomas had traveled thus far, tending toward skepticism and unwillingness to accept sensational news without trusted evidence, had ended.

Jesus spoke, “Peace to you!” with Thomas present. He invites, “Reach your finger here, and look at my hands. Reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

“Don’t be double-minded,” James paraphrases, but single-minded in your focus, in your devotion, in your faith. Love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, Jesus affirms. Look to God for the ultimate wisdom of what it means to believe. What it means to perceive words of understanding, to receive instruction, to exercise justice, and to properly channel our love. This is what Jesus was asking from Thomas.

It’s also the invitation into a new life.

When Thomas reached the end of the road, this new life of faith is what Jesus had ready for him. His new life would pick up right there in the appeal to his senses. With his eyes, he saw Jesus appear among them. With his ears he heard the greeting of peace. With his hand, he pressed into the healed wounds of crucifixion. On the inside, he filled with the conviction that Jesus was his Lord and his God. This is the beginning for Thomas. The rest of his life and service to Christ is fueled from this scene.

His faith becomes established on the word of God, and grows beyond all human capacity.

This faith leads to an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It’s why Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit actually comes when the disciples are gathered in the upper room during Pentecost. Thomas is listed there, so we can conclude his faith took root, like seed in fertile soil.

The Holy Spirit would have taken it from there by comforting and encouraging him, and igniting his heart on a mission of passion and love for the one who has the life of God. Now Thomas, the disciples, and all of us who believe have this life in Jesus’ name.

Devotionals

The Resurrection and the Life

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“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

The story of Lazarus is so intriguing. Many times I’ve tried to picture myself as one of Mary’s friends, rushing to her side as soon as news came of her brother’s death, staying through the burial, supporting her as she grieved. Questions would have flowed through my mind now that Lazarus was gone. How would the sisters survive in the world without him? Could anything have been done to prevent Lazarus from dying? What should we do to comfort Mary?

As her friend, I would have been one of those in the house with her, thinking Mary was on her way to the tomb to weep when she suddenly got up and left. All of her friends would have come along so that we might be of some help to her.

But Mary didn’t go to the tomb. She hastened along the road until falling at the feet of Jesus. The first words anyone would have heard her say for a very long time were to him. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus, expressing his own deep emotion, goes with Mary and her companions to the grave.

It’s a scene of deep grief, of honest feeling, and of compassion tinged with frustration. The great destroyer, death, has snatched away from Mary and her sister someone they loved deeply. Jesus enters into their sorrow and identifies with it, weeping and groaning in his spirit. He feels the frustration too.

Death is the great interrupter to his father’s perfect design. His children, created in his image, were never meant for decay or separation from him. We were designed to love him, mirror and glorify him, and enjoy him like he enjoys us.

The sadness at Lazarus’s grave is far, far removed from God’s original intent. That’s why Jesus came, to restore our connection to God, and to eliminate the interruption of death to that intimate communion.

“I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus declared to Martha. “The one who believes in me will live.”

Our part in restoring communion is to believe. That’s how it’s done. Jesus does everything else. He provides the complete escape from death through his own death on the cross. Through him, we live and enter into an unbroken relationship with the Father.

The story involving Lazarus took place on Jesus’ way to Jerusalem. When he arrived riding a donkey under the waving of palm branches, the events of Holy Week began to unfold. Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, the atonement for our sin, moved a little closer each day to the horrible yet necessary realities of crucifixion. He went through it for our sake. He dies in our place, giving his life so that we can live too. All we have to do is believe.

This week, as we approach Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, enter into the honest feelings of Mary and her sister Martha. Their deep griefs, their frustrations, and their trust in Jesus is ours as well.

Jesus felt great compassion for them just as he does for each of us. Mary and Martha looked to him as their source of comfort and of intervention.

“But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask,” Martha said to Jesus. She didn’t know how God would meet her need, only that he would.

Allow him to grow your faith this Easter season. He can enter into your sorrow, your frustration, and your need. Trust that he can do something about it, and then watch to see how he works.

Devotionals

The Man With the Famous Last Name

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Hope Comes Through Change

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

The story of Lazarus from John 11 is a picture of Jesus’ power over the grave. Death, suffering, sickness, sorrow, and unbelief all die their own deaths in the face of a story like this one. Perhaps you know the story of Lazarus. He was from Bethany and lived with his two sisters. After falling sick, Lazarus dies. Word reached Jesus that his friend is gone. Jesus arrives in Bethany after Lazarus’ body has been placed in a tomb. Mary and Martha, the sisters of the dead man, meet Jesus on the road. Jesus asks in verse 26 if they believe in him as the resurrection and the life. Each in their own way assure him that they do.

Deeply moved and in tears, Jesus approaches the tomb holding his friend, issues a command to remove the stone blocking the entrance, prays, and tells Lazarus to come out.

Lazarus comes out.

In the days following, what was life like for Lazarus? The Bible records no spoken words belonging to Lazarus. We wonder if Lazarus was a common man living an ordinary life. We don’t know much about him except that he had a family that included two sisters. He appears in the gospel story, not because of any shining qualities in his personality nor because of any legendary achievement, but only because of the amazing miracle that happened to him.

Later in the narratives, we find Lazarus again. This time, he is in attendance at a dinner where Jesus and his disciples are also present. He is recognized as, “Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.”

Everyone has a first name. We all go by the names our parents gave us or nicknames we have earned over time. We also have a last name; a surname to identify us as belonging to a certain family, or holding a particular history, or originating from a specific location. Lazarus kept his first name, but Jesus defined his last name. For Lazarus, identity, history, and origin began with Jesus. Now Lazarus’ full name reads, “Lazarus Whom Jesus Raised From the Dead.”

He was still a common person living an ordinary life, but he had an uncommon, extraordinary witness to the power of God. Everything he had been given, all that he was able to accomplish, each relationship he valued was only because of the miracle Jesus worked in his life.

John 11:26 ends with the words, “Do you believe this?” Jesus is asking the sisters if they believe in him as the only one who holds the power over death and suffering.

Jesus asks each one of us, “Do you believe this?” Can you stand with Martha and say, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world” (verse 27). Because of this answer, Martha was about to witness the power of God. She, too, qualified for a famous last name. Maybe hers would read something like, “Martha Who Saw Death Defeated.”

How about you? Have you witnessed the power of God in your life? Is there a time when Jesus spoke and redefined your identity, your history, and your origin? Maybe you can stand with both Lazarus and Martha to say that you are someone Who Jesus Set Free. Or you are someone Who Overcame Addiction. Or you are someone Who Jesus Healed, Jesus Turned Your Mourning to Dancing, or Jesus Lifted Your Life From a Horrible Pit.

Lazarus entered the grave, but he didn’t stay here. Whatever miracle(s) Jesus has worked in your life makes this true for you as well. You don’t stay in bondage. You don’t stay addicted, sick, mourning, or trapped in the pit. Lazarus Whom Jesus Raised From the Dead overcame suffering, sickness, and sorrow. He gets to enjoy a life redefined by Jesus’ resurrection power. So do we. Forever.

Of a Woman in Ministry

Resources for a Meaningful Lenten Season

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Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lent season. In case you are unfamiliar with the term Lent, I will give a bit of background about this span of time in the liturgical church year.

The term Lent comes from the Old English word Lencten, which means springtime. The season dates back to the third and fourth centuries, and originated as one of the spiritual preparations for Easter in remembrance of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the 21st century, we still observe it as a season of preparation and of repentance.

Lent is a forty-day period that invites us to make our hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ passion and celebrating his resurrection. Only weekdays and Saturdays are included in the forty days. Sundays stand on their own with a focus in worship on repentance and renewal.

A lovely rhythm emerges during Lent of confession of personal sin before God during the week. On Sunday, the congregation comes together to receive restoration for their souls. We are pardoned from sin and cleansed as the whole body of Christ.

Lent has retained a focus on fasting and abstinence in imitation of Jesus Christ’s fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry. In the devotional book, Seeking God’s Face, it says, “The spare and somber nature of Lent is healthy for the heart and true to the gospel, scrubbing away frothy spirituality by calling us to say no to ourselves in order to experience a greater yes in Jesus. It helps to imprint the form of the cross in our lives, recognizing that the news of the risen Lord Jesus is not good without the way of the cross.”

The awareness of dark sin shadowing our lives brings us to confession. This leaves our souls cleansed and renewed, ready to receive the light, to celebrate the light, and to live in the light when the Easter season approaches.

The pattern of confession and renewal begins today on Ash Wednesday. This is the first day of the season of Lent. Traditionally, ashes from the burned palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday are used by the pastor or priest to mark a cross on a person’s forehead saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). From Biblical times, sprinkling oneself with ashes has been a mark of sorrow for sin.

In Living the Christian Year, Bobby Gross remarks on the meaning behind the ashes of Ash Wednesday. “Dust and ashes symbolize two themes at the heart of Lent: our creaturely mortality and our moral culpability. Finite beings and sinful persons, we are destined to die. And so we humble ourselves before the eternal God who must, if we are to live, redeem us. The dust speaks of our bodily dependence, and the ashes signify our spiritual penitence. Ash Wednesday sets the true tone for the season: humility, simplicity, sobriety, and sorrow.”

Starting with the somber acknowledgement of death and ending with the triumphant new life of Easter morning, the Lent season is a rich time, deserving of our observation. The Lent season can be transformative. This has been my experience over the past several years. From new book contracts to job changes to my sons’ high school graduations, Lent has been the time when God has introduced these new realities into my life, conducted his ongoing work in my heart, and prepared me for the next span of my journey.

The resources I’ll be sharing with you in this blog post have been helpful to me in the areas of repentance and renewal. Each of them are cherished books that I draw upon routinely. I hope that among these titles you may find a gentle voice that helps you, affirms you, and teaches you as you embark on your own preparations to celebrate resurrection.

These books aren’t in any order such as most favorite to least or anything like that. They are all valuable to me and have found their permanent place in my library. Also, a quick note to say that I’ll share links for you to explore each title further. No one is making any money from my sharing. I only wish to make good authors and their quality books accessible.

Book #1: Falling Into Goodness, Lenten Reflections by Chuck DeGroat

I got this book three years ago because I’d read another book by this author. It has one reading for each day of Lent, starting with Ash Wednesday and continuing for six weeks. Each week has a theme around which the readings are developed.

Week one focuses on “Dwell with God.” Week two is “Live from your true self.” Week three is “Imagine the Kingdom.” Week four is “Take the humble Path.” Week 5 is “Wrestle with God.” Week six is “Follow Jesus.”

In his reflection for Ash Wednesday, Chuck DeGroat writes, “No one ever told me what a gift it would be to return to the ground of my being … on the ground and in the dust there is no façade. No more hiding. Only rest. And it’s where Jesus can find you. Jesus came down, you see. To the dust. In the flesh. And so, you no longer need to prove yourself to protect yourself. There is no ladder to climb, no stairway to the pearly gates, no performance strategy, no purity ritual. Only surrender. Only rest.”

Chuck DeGroat’s Lenten book is thoughtful, relatable, and helpful. He is a trusted guide through the shadowed season known as Lent.

This book was published in 2017 by an independent publishing platform. Learn more here.

Book #2: A Violent Grace by Michael Card.

I’ve talked about this book before, and I’ll mention it again since it so helpful to me. The pastor of the church my husband and I attended when our boys were small preached a sermon series on this book and encouraged the congregation to read it. I purchased a copy, fell in love with it, and have used it as part of my Lenten devotions ever since.

I like this book because it is small, based completely on Scripture, and thought provoking. I love how Michael Card can focus in and get right to the point on deep, sound doctrine while also telling a story. This book is also illustrated with sketches that bring to life the agonies, the tensions, and the love Christ felt as he experienced the events of Holy Week.

Please, pick up a copy of this book and use it for your own devotional times and reflections to make the Lenten season more meaningful and life changing.

This book was published in 2013 by Multnomah Publishers, Inc. Learn more here.

Book #3: Lent: A Season of Returning by Ruth Haley Barton.

If you haven’t yet read any of Ruth Haley Barton’s work, this book is a good place to start. It is a thin, workbook-style booklet with one reading for each week. The readings include a devotional, a choice of Scripture passages, and a space for reflection in which to write about your own meditations. The weeks follow the themes of Solitude: Fashioning our own wilderness; Self-denial: Setting our minds on things above; Repentance: Cleaning our messy house; Confession: Coming home to God; Suffering: Dying that we might live, and Holy Week: An invitation to walk with Christ.

Ruth Haley Barton’s writing is reflective, easy to follow, and transformative. I appreciate her ability to take deep, important theology and make it accessible and practical.

This booklet is available as a download from Christian Book Distributors for Year B and Year C of the lectionary. Learn more here.

Book #4: Stations of the Cross Prayer Guide by Ruth Haley Barton

This is another thin booklet, and it lays out the various events Jesus passed through on his way to the tomb. It’s touching and thought-provoking. Each station gets us in touch with the Savior’s heart of love that endured suffering for our sakes.

Scripture reading, prayer, and silence shape each station of the cross. There are fourteen stations taken directly from Scripture, along with a few that have been passed down in the Christian tradition. The Stations of the Cross is an interactive experience, allowing us to keep vigil with Christ on the long and arduous journey to the cross.

If you have even a few minutes each day over the next couple months to reflect and pray, consider spending time with this book. It will help you gain a deeper appreciation for Christ’s sufferings. Even the small things of Holy Week will take on rich meaning.

This booklet is also available from Christian Book Distributors. Learn more here.

Book #5: Living the Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney.

During the COVID era of everyone staying home on Sundays, I heard a pastor reference this author as we tuned into a service on the radio. I’ve read other books by C.J. Mahaney, and appreciate how well this book serves the themes of Lent.

This book exhorts us to center our lives by asking what the main thing is in our lives. What are you most passionate about? What do you love to talk about? What do you think about most when your mind is free? What defines you? As the author says on page 20, “Through what we experience together in this book’s pages, I hope you’ll learn to feel consistently that Christ died only yesterday, and become committed to live that way as well. As we cultivate our understanding and appreciation for the cross, as we live the rest of our earthly days feeling increasingly as if Jesus’ death happen only yesterday, we’ll be more and more astonished and overwhelmed by God’s grace. Only then will we more deeply understand and experience God’s grace in a way that consistently engages our passion.”

This book is divided into fourteen chapters and reads like a non-fiction book instead of a devotional. C.J. Mahaney helps us see the cross from an intentional, applicable angle so that we are ready to embrace Holy Week and the work Jesus did on the cross by keeping it central to our lives.

This book was published by Multnomah in 2006. Learn more here.

Book #6: Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper

Here is another book about the cross. It is divided into fifty chapters, each one giving a reason why Jesus had to suffer and die. The style of this book reminds me of apologetic writing by its strong, truthful theology and persuasiveness.

The book touches on subjects like forgiveness of sins, love, and removing condemnation. John Piper gives a great starting point for entering into a sincere reflection on Jesus’ death.

I even like the look of the book itself. The print is in brown ink with brown shading along the edges of the pages to make it look antique and aged, sort of like a scroll.

This book was published by Crossway in 2006. Learn more here.

Book #7: Lent for Everyone by N.T. Wright

This is a series of three books, one for each yearly cycle according to the Lectionary. The book for Year A focuses on the gospel of Matthew. The book for Year B focuses on the gospel of Mark, and the book for Year C focuses on the gospel of Luke. Since we are in Year A, I hope to take a look at N. T. Wright’s writings on the gospel of Matthew during my own Lenten devotional time.

These books are arranged by week, with a Psalm listed for each Sunday. The rest of the days take you through the particular gospel intended for that year. Each daily reading is arranged with a Scripture passage, followed by a brief devotional, an application, and a prayer.

I appreciate N. T. Wright’s theology and the stories he shares in the devotionals. If I could hear him speaking while I read, I’d also appreciate his English accent. In this series of books, you’ll find a nice balance of deep, sound theology and uplifting encouragement.

These books were published by Westminster John Knox Press in 2012. Learn more here.

Books I referenced or quoted in this article:

The Worship Sourcebook, Co-published by The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Faith Alive Christian Resources, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2004.

Seeking God’s Face, Praying with the Bible through the Year, also co-published by The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Faith Alive Christian Resources, Grand Rapids, Michigan, s013.

Living the Christian Year, Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2009.

Devotionals

Saul’s Armor

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So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. I Samuel 17:38-39

This spring, I took a class on a topic of interest to me. With great anticipation, I registered, listened to the lectures, and did the homework. This class was promoted as having all the best and most up-to-date information, and it did. The presenters were endorsed as experts in their field. And they were. I was learning from the best.

And yet, as the class progressed from one week to the next, I hated it. The more I learned about this particular subject, the more I discovered how ill-suited it was for me. Something I thought would empower and energize only grew cumbersome and weighed me down.

As I was telling the Lord about my disappointment, the story of David came to mind. He, too, had come under pressure to change into something he wasn’t.

The day Goliath came on the scene, the Israelite army quaked with intimidation. David happened to be on the battlefront visiting his brothers when he saw Goliath and heard his sneers.

David’s confidence in the Lord eventually gained him an audience with the king. David offered to fight the giant himself, but King Saul was skeptical. “You are not able to go aginst this Philistine to fight with him, for you are young, but he is a man of war from his youth.”

David convinced the king to let him go, so Saul clothed David with his armor and put a bronze helmet on is head. He also clothed David with a coat of mail. David fastened on the sword and tried to walk, but took the military gear off because he wasn’t used to them.

What did David do instead? He gathered up stones for his sling and went out to meet the giant just like he would have a lion or a bear.

Have you ever been in a situation where the role you’re expected to assume doesn’t quite fit, or the project you’re asked to take on is heavy or uncomfortable? This was David’s dilemma when the king gave him the armor to wear.

Yes, the king was right in saying David was unable to fight due to his young age. David lacked the experience of war that his opponent possessed.

His chances of success were slim, but they’d become non-existent if he had to face the giant wearing the restrictive armor.

David knew this, so he took everything off and gave it back to the king. Even the sword. The Bible makes a point of noting that David met the giant with no weapon in his hand.

He rejected the king’s armor and returned to his own set of proven, reliable skills. David met the giant as the simple, humble shepherd boy that he was, and not as the showy, prestigious mascot in the armor, pretending to be something he was not.

This shepherd boy was young. True. He’d never been a military hero, and had never fought in a war. David didn’t need any of those things because he only had to rely on the Lord. This was the same Lord who had delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear. He would also deliver David from the hand of the Philistine (I Samuel 17:37).

When faced with the choice to follow the king’s way of approaching a battle, David went the risky, uncertain way of trusting his own abilities. They’d been given to him from the Lord. God wouldn’t let him fail.

Whatever happened, David could rest in the protection God provided and the strength that God had been growing in him all those years in the wilderness tending vulnerable sheep.

The giants in our lives aren’t conquered in a borrowed identity. They are brought down through a belief in ourselves, through awareness of how God has been shaping us, and a willingness to go the direction that He chooses.

When we relate to the Lord in this way, the final outcome means deliverance for so many others than just ourselves. In David’s story, his trust in God meant the deliverance of an entire nation. One young man’s bravery changed the lives of thousands.

This can be true for us too. Where in your life are you facing a giant? Maybe you are facing more than one at this moment. Are you under the pressure to be something you’re not in order to gain a victory? Can you take the risk of believing in yourself and trusting the work God has done in your life?

The bravery to follow David’s example as our simple, humble selves has far-reaching rewards. Take the risk to believe in God, and to trust how he has worked in your life. He will deliver, and He will come through for you.

Devotionals

The Trust, Rest, and Strength Found in Psalm 37

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Part I, Our attitude toward life’s problems

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

Trust in the Lord, and do good, dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret, it only causes harm. Psalm 37:1-8

Problems in life are a given. No one is going to get away from them. According to Psalm 37, the troubles that we may encounter in our walk with God include fretting, or worry (verse 1), envy (verse 2), mistrust, as implied in verses 3 and 5, impatience, as implied in verse 7, and anger and wrath combined with worry (verse 8).

It seems to me like the psalmist put these temptations at the beginning as if to say, “I’m bringing these to your attention so that you can watch for them and make good choices that will keep you from falling into them.”

If we know how to live our lives free from the power of worry, envy, or anger, we are well prepared to see justice and to receive a rich inheritance from the Lord. This doesn’t mean that we won’t ever feel them, but it does mean that we can live free from their power.

Psalm 37 uses the word inheritance and gives it the meaning of obtaining covenant privileges and the salvation of God.

The Israelites, who were the original audience, were in a covenant relationship with God. He’d made commitments to them of certain things he was going to do for them. Giving them land was one of those promises.

What does the concept of inheritance mean for us?

It’s about security, and it’s a security that isn’t rooted in the circumstances of life. Misfortune and scarcity may come, but they can’t steal the inheritance away. Throughout the psalm, clues are given to what kind of an inheritance this is.

Verse 4 mentions the desires of our hearts. Verse 5 says that when we commit our way to God, he will bring it to pass. Verse 6 mentions righteousness and justice. Verse 11 talks of peace. Verse 18 says that this inheritance is forever, without end. Verse 39 promises strength from God.

Who is the one who gets to inherit this “land of riches?”

Verse 9 in the New King James Version of the Bible that I quoted above uses the word wait. The NIV uses the word hope. Those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

Four more verses give us further clues to who the heirs are. Verse 11 says that the meek will inherit the earth. Verse 22 says that those blessed by God will inherit. Verse 29 says the righteous will inherit, and verse 34 says that if you hope in, or wait on, the Lord and keep his way, he will exalt you to inherit the land.

Our attitudes toward problems matter. Another psalm that also compares the tragedy of the wicked with the blessing of trusting God is Psalm 73. Verse 23 in that psalm shows the author saying to God, “I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward, receive me into glory.”

We have God always with us. He holds us by the hand. He guides us, counsels us, and receives us into glory.

Our attitudes toward problems matter because we have to remember that God is always with us, counseling, guiding, and ready to receive us in glory.

We have to frame up our problems in light of this.  And then instead of envying or comparing, worrying or getting angry, we have to hope. If we want to inherit that land of desire, of righteousness and justice, of peace and strength, we have to wait on God.

Don’t try to live your life on your own. It may work for you for a while. You might get rich, have all kinds of friends, and live in an assumed safety. But the cost of amassing it all without God is too high to pay.

Your hope in him will save you, and it will promise you an inheritance that is more beautiful and satisfying than you could ever imagine.

Devotionals

The Shape of Perfect Love

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Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. I John 4:7, 12

The topic of relationships is still on my mind because of the time I’ve spent studying I John 4. There is so much rich, deep, and timeless theology in this chapter that one brief devotional couldn’t possibly do it justice. I encourage you to take a look at I John 4 on your own beyond what I say in this devotional. Sit in it. Think about what you read, and then pray over the emotions it makes you feel.

John wants us to wrestle a bit, I believe, because he wants us to fully trust God’s authentic, faithful, and constant love. It is the energy on which our lives and relationships thrive.

A theologian by the name of C.H. Dodd has commented that love is triangular. It flows from God to us, through us to others, and then returns to God. This aligns with the point John is making when he says that if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Earlier, in verse 8, he gives us a reliable test to use on our hearts. Anyone who doesn’t love doesn’t know God. This relates directly to the statement he makes about abiding in God in verse 12.

If we say we love God, then our lives will hold love like a pool holds water. This love will then naturally spill out onto others. If we say we love people, then our relationships will act as a window into our attitudes toward God. John is saying that one doesn’t exist without the other. If we love God, we’ll share his love with others. And if we love others, we do it out of the reservoir our relationship with God has created within us.

These are two sides to the triangle. The third one is about returning love to God. When we live in Christian community giving, serving, and showing compassion, then love is returned to God. This may be what John means when he says that God’s love is made complete in us. He extends love to us. We give it to others. Together we give it back to God.

It’s the shape of perfect love.

Loving in community has an additional aspect. When we love, God is seen. He is invisible until his family of sons and daughters love each other. When we let his love flow through us, and we serve one another in sacrificial ways, God is seen. This is where he lives. This is how the outside world recognizes him. His presence moves and dances in the actions of a loving Christian community.

How do we grow this capacity to love in our hearts? John suggests that we must stay connected to God. Find ways to consistently listen to his word, to study it, or to read it for yourself.

Be born of God by accepting Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in them and they in God (verse 15).

Practice loving others. We won’t get it right every time. People will find ways, sometimes unintentional ones, to insult us or offend us. But we must forgive and keep moving forward. Our goal is to make God visible and to continue expressing our love to him.

This verse from the hymn, “The Love of God” gives me such great comfort to know how endless and yet how strong is God’s love.

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the sky of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade.

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky.

The love of God, how rich and pure

How measureless and strong.

It shall forevermore endure

The saints and angels’ song.